Debate: Status Quo Seen As A Romney Win

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) --- President Obama walks onto a debate stage in New York Tuesday night suffering from the results of a weak performance in his first debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney, his hands tied town hall format that will make it harder for him to attack Romney without offending voters who will be asking the questions and expecting answers rather than seeing their questions being used as launching pads for political attacks.

The first debate was more formal, and allowed Romney to attack the administration's record while the President's seemingly cool approach made him appear disengaged and offered undecided voters a reason for more seriously considering Romney than they had before.

"I think for Governor Romney, just maintaining the status quo is a win.

" I think there's much more pressure on President Obama. On one level the expectations are very low for the president. He just has to show up act like he's interested and he'll be better than the first time around. But he also put an unnecessary amount of pressure on himself because of that first debate performance," said Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report.

"I think all the attention around the first presidential debate guarantees that this second debate is going to be under a huge microscope, and I think that it just adds more and more focus because of what happened the first time around," Gonzales told 9News Now.

Gonzales sees the Obama campaign facing obstacles Tuesday night.

"I think, the president, there is only so much under his control after the first debate.

"I think he can throw out some red meat to the base. He can talk to the swing voters but one thing I don't think he can erase is the enthusiasm on the Republican side .

"I think the first debate punctured the hole of inevitability in the president's argument for his re-election," Gonzales said.